Items Tagged with 'laser sintering'

FAIRFIELD, CT—A metal sensor housing has become the first 3D-printed part certified by the Federal Aviation Administration to fly inside a commercial jet engine.

NEW YORK CITY—Alcoa Inc. is researching how they can best incorporate 3D printing technology into its business as the third largest producer of aluminum in the world. Alcoa’s chief technology officer, Ray Kilmer, says that the aluminum maker is attempting to use 3D printing to produce jet engine parts, among other things.

New technology is often a paradox—offering increased capability but at great expense with a long ROI.

HUNTSVILLE, AL—NASA has successfully tested complex rocket engine parts produced with the additive manufacturing process laser metal sintering.

Depending on who you listen to, 3D printing (or, as it’s more formally known, additive manufacturing) is either the biggest thing to hit the manufacturing world since the screw or the biggest tech fad since the fax machine. It’s actually a little of each.